College and Research Libraries It will be easy to criticize the new ninth edition of VorHinder as superficial, but ac- tual use will prove it to be sound and reli- able. It strikes at the truly climactic points of western philosophy, and constant revision has endowed it with utmost clarity and pre- cision. Any library would be well advised to check the bibliographies against its cata- log.-Lawrence S. Thompson} University of Kentucky Libraries. International Relations Training of Specialists in International Re- lations. By C. Dale Fuller. Washington: American Council on Education, 1957. 136p. $3.00. This analysis of current graduate pro- grams available to would-be specialists in international relations has a three-fold in- terest for librarians. The author, who is chairman of the Department of Internation- al Relations at the University of Denver, de- fines the field, sketches the programs of- fered and analyzes their strength and weak- ness. The librarian-educator who has the re- sponsibility of furnishing materials and serv- ices to the faculty members and students in the field of international relations will gain from this study an understanding of the breadth and variety of their interests. A large percentage of the graduates specializ- ing in international relations emerge as teachers. They in turn will make demands on college and university libraries. Implied, although not specifically mentioned, is the fact that the extent to which they have learned during their training period to use library resources effectively, will in turn af- fect the use that their students will make of academic libraries. The literature of inter- national relations is so vast that students need training in the identification, selection, and organization of appropriate references. In the chapter devoted to the strengths and weaknesses of this specialized training there are found some hints to librarians where for- mer students suggest a need for training in the techniques of fact finding, of individual reading programs to fill in gaps, and a de- sire for courses in the related fields of geog- raphy, economics, and the behavioral sci- ences. Some respondents suggest that lengthy theses are less desirable than training in how to assemble material and prepare a con- cise analysis. For the librarian-professor concerned with training future members of our profession this volume offers soul-searching suggestions, for, like the international relations expert, the librarian is both a generalist and a spe- cialist whose formal period of instruction is only the beginning of his professional train- ing. One might substitute "librarianship" in the sentence "Graduate training in interna- tional relations is designed to reduce the dis- tortion which is inevitable in over-specializa- tion, while at the same time giving focus to broader education." (p. 127) Both fields need cooperative courses, seminars, and in- dividual reading programs to supplement previously acquired knowledge. Likewise, the multidisciplinary nature of the field sug- gests that the students selected for training be restricted to those with outstanding un- dergraduate records and broad general edu- cation. The personal characteristics of flexi- bility, sensitivity, capacity to endure frustra- tion, ability to submit to detailed super- vision, and work without public acclaim are desirable in many library situations. Admis- sions officers of library schools might well ponder the sentence "One can infer much about a person from a written statement as to why he wishes to undertake graduate in- struction in international relations." (p. 124) Among the specialists engaged in interna- tional relations are librarians who serve the United States Information Agency in this country and overseas. Over and above their professional competence as librarians these individuals need to possess additional skills and personal characteristics. "Individuals who are personally dissatisfied with their as- signments abroad tend to be those who have no language skill and by reason of this defi- ciency have become isolated socially from the citizens of the country in which they are sta- tioned." (p. 47-8) The very nature of the work of overseas librarians ' demands daily contact with local nationals and language ability to enable them to gain the confidence of their library users. Among the added per- sonal characteristics for overseas positions are ability to select, train, and evaluate the 512 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES work of locally recruited personnel, a sense of humor and proportion, good health, and the ability to adapt to a new environment. To paraphrase Professor Fuller-For the li- brarian abroad, his own and his family's be- havior may be the principal means by which those with whom he comes in contact form an image of Americans and American li- brarianship.-Flora B. Ludington) Mount Holyoke College. Catalog Code Revision Toward a Better Cataloging Code; Papers presented before the Twenty-first Annual Conference of the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago, June 13-15, 1956. Ed. by Ruth French Strout. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957. ll6p. $3.75. These papers from the Graduate Library School Conference treat the subject of cata- log code revision from various points of view; the historical background (Ruth French Strout and Paul S. Dunkin), "gen- eral considerations on the function and con- tent of catalog entries" (Richard S. Angell), problems in applying catalog codes (Her- man H. Henkle and Benjamin A. Custer), the cost of cataloging (Raynard C. Swank), developments in other countries (Andrew D. Osborn and Arthur H. Chaplin), and the present state of code revision in the United States (Seymour Lubetzky and Wyllis E. Wright). The papers by Strout and Dunkin trace the history of catalog codes from 2000 B.c. to the present. Strout concludes her account by asserting: "Throughout history codes seem always to have envisaged catalogs which were far better than their contemp- orary catalogs ever were ... Codes have not been a statement of the usages of their day but rather the very means through which progress has come." Dunkin details the attacks on catalog codes of the past fif- teen years, beginning with Osborn's "The Crisis in Cataloging," pointing out that the attacks have ranged around three subjects: basic principles, si~plification, and study of the user. He notes that today the "crisis in NOVEMBER 1957 cataloging" has become a part of the larger crisis in public and academic library ad- ministration generally and bibliographical control in general and wisely observes that agreement on functions is much easier to come by than agreement on techniques to implement functions. In his attempt t~ develop "some general considerations on the function and content of catalog entries," Angell takes a close look at some of the basic principles (and alleged lack thereof) of our present codes, both for entry and for descriptive cataloging. His criticism is frequently sharp and incisive and will stimulate, if not antagonize, most read- ~rs. He contends that the rules for catalog- mg books have been too slavishly followed in devising rules for other media of com- munic~tion and suggests that it is possible to devise rules for entry of the various media which grow "naturally" out of the media themselves. Unfortunately, there is no ex- tended discussion of this point, and no illus- trations of specific rules are presented for our consideration. He also contends that our rules are weak in conveying the import of the communication, implying that we should not rely on subject headings for this necessary function. These points are typical of many others in an essay which attempts to extend the frame of reference of code revision considerably beyond its usual bound- aries. Custer attempts to identify some of the most pressing problems in public libraries, as distinguished from academic libraries, e.g., the effect of filing rules on the rules of en- try and on use of the catalog, the greater use of "common" rather than "authoritative" names, the probably greater use by patrons of names and titles as they appear on the works being cataloged, and the need for less detailed descriptive cataloging rules. Henkle is particularly concerned with the problems of application of rules and sug- gests that the shift from the legalistic to the pragmatic theory in descriptive cataloging has perhaps been in name only-that opera- tional research is needed to determine how far practicing cat a 1 o g e r s have actually changed their point of view. At the same time, he points out that practicing catalog- ers have a unique opportunity to contrib- 513